Page 44 of A Future in the Bay

“What about you? You’ve been keeping busy with all this extra time we’ve had,” Heidi said. “Are you still volunteering at the elementary school? Little Clams?”

“I am,” Gwen said, feeling her heart lift up at the thought of it. “I’m going to go back there tomorrow morning to help Isaiah out with some painting. We’re painting a lot of the classrooms in fresh colors, like green and blue. It’s going to look really nice.”

“You should ask him to take you out on that boat again after,” Heidi said, grinning a touch slyly.

“What boat?” Gwen teased.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the one you’ve been talking about almost nonstop ever since you went on it. Adrenaline suits you, Dr. Dunaway.”

Gwen’s mouth popped open—she was surprised by Heidi’s comment. She had never considered herself to be the kind of person who was suited to adrenaline. “I don’t know about that.”

“Hmm, so maybe it’s not the boat you’re so excited about.” Now Heidi’s smile was decidedly sly. “Maybe it’s the captain of the boat.”

“What?” Gwen protested, feeling herself flush.

“Isaiah Dunlap, the heartthrob of Blueberry Bay. You’ve been spending a lot of time with him, and I’m not going to lie, you seem much happier than usual. So come on—you should ask him to take you out on that boat again. Maybe it will be like a date.”

“I—no—I’m not interested in him like that,” Gwen stammered. “I’m not going to ask him to take me out on the boat again.”

The nurse lifted her eyebrows and cocked her head to one side, giving Gwen a skeptical look.

“What?” Gwen protested. “What’s that look for?”

“It means that what you think of him is written all over your face,” Heidi said, grinning. “You like him, and you want to get on board with his optimistic, fun-loving ways even if it is against your nature.”

Gwen’s mouth popped open again, ready to protest, but the words died on her lips. She couldn’t deny it—she did find Isaiah fun and attractive and a great person to be around. She got butterflies whenever she thought about him, and that made her nervous. And she had to admit that she was now more nervous about the whole thing than ever before, since he’d acted a little strangely the last time she’d spoken with him. She’d been noticing the budding chemistry between the two of them, but the way he’d been acting the last time she saw him made her wonder if maybe he’d decided that they weren’t compatible after all, and he needed to stop being flirtatious with her.

I scare people off,she thought.No man wants to be with someone who’s as particular as I am.

Shaking off her disappointment at the thought, she said firmly, “I didn’t come here to get into a relationship. I mean, I just got out of one. That’s not part of the plan for me.”

Heidi smiled knowingly, resting a hand on her hip. “Hey, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes you need to embrace the unexpected.”

Gwen smiled back, but she didn’t comment on Heidi’s words. Internally, she knew that what her friend was saying made a lot of sense, but she didn’t feel ready to admit that out loud.

“You keep thinking about it,” Heidi said breezily, lifting a brow at Gwen and grabbing her purse. She seemed to sense that the conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere else that night, but Gwen got the impression that her friend planned on bringing thewhole thing up again another time. “I’ll see you soon. You can tell me all about how the painting goes tomorrow.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fairly uneventful,” Gwen said. “Paint drying is supposed to be one of the most boring things to watch, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you won’t be watching the paint dry,” Heidi said mischievously. “See you tomorrow!” she called out cheerfully before Gwen had a chance to protest, and slipped through the front door.

Gwen watched her go, feeling her stomach fill with butterflies. She was excited to see Isaiah the next morning, and she was nervous too. Part of her wanted nothing special at all to happen the next day, because that would mean that she could start to forget all about her crush on him and try to focus on other things. But the rest of her hoped that she would have news to share with Heidi after all.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Alissa pushed open the front doors of Sandy’s Grocery and stepped inside the cool store, taking a deep breath of the smells of bakery and produce. She’d been driving home after working atThe Outletall day when she’d suddenly felt overwhelmed by a craving for garlic bread.

Pregnancy is wild,she thought, adjusting her glasses with a wry smile as she made her way down the familiar aisles of Blueberry Bay’s grocery store.One minute I’m driving along deciding that Dane and I should just eat leftovers for dinner, and the next moment, I’m like a wild woman for a specific kind of food.

She decided that she wanted to make fresh garlic bread, using a loaf of French bread from the bakery. She got a shopping basket and began to make her selections, feeling excited about getting to enjoy the garlic bread when she got home.

She smiled as she approached the register, happy to see that her friend Sandy was working the check-out line.

“Sandy!” she said warmly as she started to unload her items onto the conveyer belt. “How are you?”

“Oh my goodness, Alissa! Let me give you a hug.” Sandy stepped over to where Alissa was for a moment to give her a quick embrace. “How excited are you for the baby to arrive?”

“Practically beside myself,” Alissa admitted, laughing. She could feel that her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were shining. “I’m so jittery and nervous, but I couldn’t want anything more than I want Oscar to be born.”

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